Vol. 575 No. 3
63 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the number of gardaí per 1,000 population was lower at the end of 2002, and will be lower at the end of 2003 than it was at the end of 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28309/03]
I have been informed by the Garda authorities that population statistics were published by the Central Statistics Office in 1996 and 2002. In 1996, when the population was 3,626,827, the strength of the force was 10,804. This equated to one member of the Garda Síochána per 336 persons. In 2002, when the population was 3,917,336, the strength of the force was 11,895. This equated to one member of the Garda Síochána per 329 persons. The population increased by almost 300,000 between 1996 and 2002, but the ratio of Garda members per head of population also increased in that period. My commitment to increasing the strength of the force to 12,200 by the end of 2004 will increase this ratio even further.
